The Birthday Request

I had a conversation with my husband earlier last week that went a little something like this:

Me: What would you like for your birthday dinner?
Husband: Chicken Parmesan and mashed potatoes.
Me: Chicken Parmesan and mashed potatoes? Together? In one meal?
Husband: My dad always used to make mashed potatoes with Chicken Parmesan.
Me: Your family has the most bizarre eating habits.
Husband: How about Chicken Parmesan, mashed potatoes, and pasta?
Picture me rolling my eyes.

I did feel bad after this conversation, because later he recanted on his mashed potatoes request and went with broccolini instead. I would have made mashed potatoes. I believe in birthday dinners and the birthday boy should get whatever meal he desires. But it was too late, he said he didn't really want them and yes, I felt horrible. I stole the fun out of the birthday dinner. I didn't play by my own birthday rules. But, I do have to stand by my words, his family does have some bizarre eating habits. I believe there have been stories that involve sandwiches made up of peanut butter, lettuce and mayonnaise. Enough said.

But my guilt stayed with me and so Lyla and I set out to make it the best possible birthday celebration ever, even if it did not involve mashed potatoes. We picked the birthday boy up from work and took him out to lunch. Happily fed and after a few squeezes from Lyla we dropped him back off and then hurried home to wrapped all of his presents. Lyla wanted to make sure he had something special to get him through the rest of his work day, so she posed pretty and gave her best birthday smile for a picture.

And with her picture, she even sent a little note that said:

"Dear Daddy,

Happy Birthday.

Love,

Lyla

P.S. Hurry home, we  have Apple Pie."

Lyla provide her own little birthday present, by taking a nice little nap so that I was able to prepare the birthday meal. To get started I butterflied, cut and pounded out all my chicken breasts, so that they were as thin and tender as possible. Next I prepared my parmesan coatings. In one bowl I combined flour and oregano. In another, one egg, beaten. And finally in the third bowl, I added bread crumbs seasoned with basil, oregano, salt and pepper.

I coated each piece of chicken first in the flour, then in the egg and finally in the breadcrumbs.

Next, I heated up a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a saute pan. Once hot, I added the chicken and browned it on each side. Before flipping the chicken over, I added additional olive oil to ensure that it would brown on both sides. I repeated this with each piece of chicken.

Normally I would finish off the chicken in the saute pan by placing the entire pan in the oven. However, I had so much chicken that I decided to transfer all of them to a large baking pan.

Next, I began to add my toppings. First the tomato sauce (homemade or jarred, whichever you prefer). Then the freshly grated cheeses (mozzarella, followed by parmesan.)

I finished cooking the chicken in a 450 degree oven. I let them bake for roughly 5-7 minutes, until the chicken was completely cooked through (keep in mind I pounded out the chicken making it very thin, if  you use whole chicken breasts you will need to increase the cooking time.)

While the chicken was baking I focused on the broccolini by first cutting and cleaning it.

I then placed it in a steaming pan over a pot of water and simply seasoned it with a little bit of salt and pepper.

After the water began to boil and had begun to steam the broccolini for a few minutes, I squeezed the juice of half a lemon over top of the pan.

I let it finish steaming for a few more minutes and then removed it from the heat. You do not want to over cook the broccolini. You only want to let it steam until it is bright green and tender. If you steam it for too long it will begin to brown. Once removed from the meat, I sprinkled it with a bit of parmesan cheese and covered it so that the cheese would melt.

By this point, the chicken was finished cooking and ready to come out of the oven.

I plated the chicken along side of the lemon broccolini and a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and let the birthday boy dig in.

After the birthday dinner was complete, Lyla happily helped her Daddy open a few of his presents (although she refused to smile for the camera).

She was excited, she just hid it well.

Someone was a little tired by the end.

Hopefully the birthday boy enjoyed his meal, even minus the mashed potatoes. Next time I make Chicken Parmesan, you better believe there will be a side of mashed potatoes to go along with it. Oh, and just as Lyla promised, there was apple pie and ice cream.

The birthday boy finished his pie before a picture could be taken!

Happy Birthday Adam and I promise not to question your birthday meal next year, that is, as long as you do not request peanut butter, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiches.

Fall Cooking: Roasted Chicken

Now that summer is officially over, we have many new things to look forward to: cooler weather, the changing of leaves, football (lots, and lots, of football), a whole new line of clothes,  campfires on crisp evenings, and so much more. Even the air smells different. Everything around us is changing - including our cooking. Fall demands both rich and spicy flavors, food that warms you from the inside out and brings back childhood memories. As the air turns colder, we have a whole new selection of  food to pick from: squash, apples, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and pears are all in season. Even our techniques change, as we move away from outdoor grilling and lighter dishes, and back inside with crock pots and slow roasting. Rather than salads and barbecue we can look forward to homemade soups and stews. Fall is, quite simply, a great time to get your cook on in the kitchen.

One of the first dishes I wanted to make to celebrate this change of season was a whole roasted chicken. Its easy, affordable and one bite takes me back to days long ago. Back to when the start of a new school year and "Five Star" notebooks sent me into a tizzy of excitement, to a time when raking leaves was an adventure and not a chore, when having cold hands was a result of hard play and therefore hardly noticed, to a time when I lived in my light blue soccer uniform and Umbros were definitely the "in" thing, and when bed time was determined by the setting of the sun. Back then, my siblings and I would pour into the kitchen tired, dirty and all talking at once, and be met by the aroma of a beautiful roast chicken. Those were goods days, some of the best. This recipe helps take me back there.

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1 lemon

1 large onion

3-4 chopped carrots

2-3 stalks of celery

Chicken Broth

Paprika

Rosemary Leaves

Fennel Seeds

Cayenne Pepper

Sea Salt

Freshly cracked ground Pepper

Butter

Your first step is to prepare and clean the chicken. This can be an intimidating task for any first timer, but it is not as difficult as it may seems. If you have a frozen chicken you will want to completely thaw it before beginning. Start by removing the neck, giblets and kidneys from the cavity of the chicken. Next, rinse the chicken under cold tap water. Be sure to rinse inside the cavity as well. Once clean, pat down with paper towels until dry. 

Slice the onion into rings and place at the bottom of your roasting pan. On top, add the chopped carrots and celery. These vegetables will be the surface on which the chicken will sit. 

After the chicken is cleaned, rub a little bit of butter of the skin. Next, prepare the rub. To do so add the juice of 1/2 a lemon, paprika, rosemary leaves, fennel seeds, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste. If you prefer a spicier flavor add more paprika or cayenne. Once complete, rub the mixture all of the chicken and inside the cavity. 

Once the chicken is smothered in the rub, place the other 1/2 of the lemon in the cavity. This will help add an extra boost of flavor.

Finally, place the prepared chicken on top of the chopped vegetables in the roasting pan. Pour about a cup of chicken broth into the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper over the entire pan. 

Cook at 425 degree for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes or until the meat thermometer registers at 170 degrees. While the chicken is cooking, baste it a few times with the broth from the bottom of the pan to add both a bit more flavor and moisture.

Once the chicken is done, remove from oven and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before slicing. Serve with sweet potatoes, spinach and the vegetables from the pan. 

Enjoy this fall dish and after the feast if there are leftovers (we had tons!), use the bounty to make another fall supper such as chicken soup or Chicken Tetrazzini. What are your favorite dishes to make from leftover chicken? Feel free to share in the comments! 

Cucina Italiana

My husband, Adam, and I have been talking about planning a trip to Europe for quite some time now. Yesterday, we finalized our plans and in honor of this trip which will end in Italy, I wanted to make a special Italian dish to celebrate. One of my favorite Italian chefs is Lidia Matticchio Bastianich who owns many wonderful restaurants including Lidia’s in Kansas City. I decided her recipe of fish with pepper sauce would be the perfect way to celebrate our upcoming adventure and learn a little bit more about Italian cooking and culture.

This recipe originates in the Le Marche region of central Italy. It includes red and yellow bell peppers, olive oil, salt, onion, celery, peperoncino flakes, marjoram, sage, orange zest, canned Italian tomatoes, and fresh white fish. First you prepare the sauce, then lightly brown the fish before letting it complete the cooking process in the simmering sauce. 

Lidia’s recipe calls for any white fish and she recommends using an oily fish such as bluefish or mackerel. I chose to go with Alaskan Cod fillet and this worked perfectly with the rich pepper sauce. The first step of the cooking process is to roast the peppers for about 1/2 an hour until the skins are loose enough to be easily removed. Discard the seeds and chop the peppers to be used later.

While the peppers are roasting, be sure to chop the necessary ingredients so that everything is ready to go when you need it. Dice up one onion and two sticks of celery. Next heat the olive oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan before adding the onion and celery and a dash of salt and peperoncino flakes. Allow to cook for a few minutes before adding in fresh springs of marjoram and sage, the zest of one whole orange and the Italian tomatoes plus a cup of water. From here the ingredients need time to soften and meld together, so bring the pot to a simmer and allow to cook for about 20 minutes or so. 

After this is complete and you have added in the roasted peppers, Lidia’s recipe suggest pouring the food into a mill to stain the sauce. I chose to actually go a different route and blend the sauce with an immersion blender. This allowed me to create a thicker sauce which I thought paired wonderfully with the fish. Either way would work, it just depends on what you are looking for. 

After completing this step, it is time to begin cooking the fish. Lidia seasons and flours her fish before frying it in oil. I chose to only season the fish with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and skipped the flour. I then lightly browned the fish on both sides. For me this is a very important step that can make or break the rest of the dish. You want to heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Once the oil is heated completed, lay the fillets flesh side down in the pan and do not touch it for several minutes. If you continue to check the fish to see how the cooking is progressing, chances are it will not create the crust that you are looking for and the fish will end up ripping into multiple pieces. As much as you want to, you have to resist the urge to look at the fish. After about 3 minutes or so, carefully flip the fish one time and brown the other side for a few minutes.

Finally, once the fish is close to being cooked all the way through, add your pepper sauce to the pan and bring it to a simmer. Let the fish finish cooking for a few more minutes in the sauce before serving. This process allows the sauce to infuse into the fish creating a much more flavorful dish. 

Lidia suggests sprinkling parsley on top of the fish when serving, instead, I picked some fresh basil from our garden and used that as our final flavor. The basil definitely added additional elements of freshness and boldness to the dish. Lastly, along with the fish and pepper sauce, I served sautéed spinach and fresh french bread. The spinach can easily be sautéed at the same time that the fish is cooking. 

This was the perfect meal to celebrate our upcoming trip. I cannot wait to bring back and share with you all the many wonderful recipes of Le Marche and several other regions of Italy. Until then, we will continue to look forward to our trip with the help of Lidia. Buon divertimento!